So I, like many of you when watching fanfest, were excited to see the new navy destroyers, with their enhanced models and personal flair, where they followed the new trend of navy faction ships having more visible differences over their t1 counterparts. I cheered on, and when information on the bonuses and stats were released…my heart sank. I’ve come back to the forums after years to make a heartfelt plea to save this well-rendered space submarine.
This ship is, by its very description, meant to be a rallying post for the caldari people to gather behind after the devastating loss of our crown jewel, the Jita system. Instead of being inspired, I felt snubbed.
There’s no two ways of cutting it. This ship is DOA, and I’ll explain why, and what to do to bring it to a healthy place relative to the others.
-THE PROBLEM
This is meant to follow in the proud family of Caldari navy bombardment ships in the same vein as the Raven Navy Issue and Drake navy Issue with a bonus to range and explosion radius. The Navy Corax comes across as a weak, half-formed mess where it tries to take the same attributes for itself, but fails by the imposition of poor vision, poor resolve, and poor execution.
It fails in its vision;
it is designed for a niche in bombardment with clear examples to follow, but chooses instead to just be given a hobbled loadout at the outset, with the kinetic damage preference of the osprey navy and hookbill, and the explosion radius modifier of larger caldari navy ships, but which the corax navy issue actually gets worse application than the t1 corax, with the lower base radius modifier for small missiles means that explosion velocity is more valuable for damage application after secondary skills are applied.
It fails in its resolve;
it does nothing to promote or establish a niche, and carries over the exact same substandard power core of the t1 corax, and doesn’t have bonuses that synergize, showing a lack of respect for tradition and detail, when even recently they’ve made such fine examples as the Ferox Navy Issue and Phoenix Navy Issue to show that they can design effective caldari ships when they put their mind to it.
It fails in its execution.
The other three new navy destroyers are excellent at first glance. They have adequate fitting, bonuses that synergize well, and preset niches to establish themselves well in a crowded but healthy ecosystem. The Corax Navy Issue is simply a bigger, more expensive, and more vulnerable version of the Hookbill in the same way the Mamba is to the Worm. The latter at least has the excuse of being bootstrapped by limited options from its wildly unique drone bonus.
-THE SOLUTION
Stop being scared of making a strong caldari ship. It’s nothingburger problem with how ships are these days, and it’s just painful seeing design reluctance for a faction that, historically, bluntly, doesn’t ■■■■ around. Here are the proposed changes:
-Hull changes
+22 powergrid
-5 CPU
-1 low
+1 high
+1 launcher
+13km base targeting range
-New bonuses per Caldari Destroyer level
10% bonus to light missile and rocket damage
10% bonus to light missile and rocket max velocity
10% bonus to light missile and rocket explosion velocity
Role Bonus:
50% bonus to light missile and rocket max velocity
These changes bring it in line with similar attributes to a Flycatcher, but with a much more focused role as a dedicated sniper. I don’t find these bonuses onerous or oppressive in comparison to the performance of other navy destroyers, and is a rational response to the expanded number of drone boats the Caldari are fighting against with the appearance of the Mamba, Alligator, Dragoon Navy Issue and Algos Navy Issue.
I’m fine fudging stats with improved damage as long as it does more than it currently does ingame.